Jackson’s ‘Drive’ No. 1 for Third Consecutive Week

It may have taken Alan Jackson a dozen years of country music stardom to finally get a No. 1 album on the pop chart, but he’s holding on to that spot. His “Drive” is the nation’s best-selling collection for the third consecutive week.

The album sold 189,000 copies last week, giving it a three-week total of 842,000 copies, according to SoundScan.

That was enough for an 80,000 lead over Creed’s “Weathered,” which remains No. 2. The next seven spots on the Top 10 remained steady from last week. The positions are claimed, in order, by Linkin Park, Ludacris, Nickelback, Ja Rule, Nas, Usher and Pink.

The only addition to the Top 10 is Mary J. Blige’s “No More Drama,” which jumped from No. 28 to No. 10 thanks to a repackaged version of the collection. The original album sold more than 1.7 million copies since its release last August, but it regained momentum after MCA Records re-released it last week with a new cover, two new songs and two remixes.

The nation’s best-selling single continues to be B2K’s “Un Huh.”

Robert Hilburn